


In a Spin

by Polomonkey



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: First Kiss, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, M/M, Romance, Spin the Bottle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-29
Updated: 2016-05-29
Packaged: 2018-07-10 22:50:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7011460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Polomonkey/pseuds/Polomonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Merlin's never been kissed before and a game of Spin the Bottle is the last thing he needs. Or so he thinks...</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a Spin

**Author's Note:**

> A bit of floof I wrote on tumblr ages ago and decided to cross post here! We're in tooth rot territory here people, fair warning :)

Merlin hates party games. Well that’s not entirely true; Twister can be fun, and he loves Articulate, and he even digs that weird vampire one with the complicated rules that Morgana taught them. So maybe he just hates Spin the Bottle. And maybe that’s because he’s seventeen years old and he’s never had a proper kiss in his life. 

He’s managed to duck out every time they’ve played it so far, but tonight his luck runs out. Gwaine practically pins him to the carpet, and suddenly it’s too late to leave without seeming weird. So he sits quietly and hopes no-one gets him. Hopes tonight isn’t the night they all find out how inexperienced he really is. 

Gwaine’s a cheater and everyone knows it. It’s no surprise when he goes first and gets Morgana. He makes a big show of smacking his lips, and she rolls her eyes and gives him a quick unceremonious peck.

“That’s all I get?” he says, mock-wounded. 

“I saw you land the bottle on me deliberately,” Morgana says indignantly, and then undermines her own moral outrage by doing the exact same thing to Gwen on her turn. Gwen blushes pillar box red, but she lets Morgana lean in and press a lingering kiss to her lips. They’re both smiling at each other as they break apart, and Merlin can’t help but find it sweet. 

“Get a room!” Arthur shouts and Morgana throws popcorn at him.

Gwen gets Leon, who rather nervously takes account of Morgana’s glare, and brushes his lips against Gwen’s very quickly indeed. He looks relieved when he spins and gets Elyan, who doesn’t look at all dismayed by the outcome. 

Leon and Elyan kiss till they get heckled, and both surface looking like cats that got the cream. Then Elyan spins and gets Arthur. Arthur waggles his eyebrows, and Elyan laughs. The kiss they share is relaxed, easy, and it calms Merlin down a little. He can see that no-one’s taking this game too seriously.

But his nerves ramp up again when Arthur takes hold of the bottle.

He really doesn’t want it to land on him. Of the people assembled, he’s pretty sure Arthur’s the one who’s most likely to make fun of him for being a bad kisser. It’s not that they’re not friends, but Arthur teases everyone, and he can be a bit tactless. He won’t mean to be rude but the damage will be done, and Merlin will have to laugh it off and pretend he’s not totally humiliated. So he crosses his fingers and prays silently to the deity he doesn’t believe in that this turn passes him by.

If God does exist, then Merlin’s lifelong atheism has clearly pissed Him off, because the bottle lands unmistakeably at his feet.

The girls whoop a little, which does nothing to help. Merlin can feel sweat prickling at the back of his neck as Arthur starts to cross the circle towards him.

He tries to calm himself. Arthur looks relaxed, unruffled. He’s clearly not feeling anything weird about kissing Merlin, and he’s unlikely to try and draw it out. Maybe Merlin can get away with just keeping his mouth still? Or is that the classic sign of a bad kisser?

Suddenly Arthur’s right in front of him.

“No biting,” he jokes, and Merlin nods, too scared to speak. He suddenly wishes he’d had a few more of those sketchy looking jelly shots that Morgana was passing out earlier. He could do with a bit of Dutch courage right now.

But it’s too late and Arthur’s already leaning in… 

Merlin freezes slightly when he feels lips against his. They’re warm and soft and not at all what he thought a pair of lips would feel like. Almost automatically, he moves against them.

Arthur moves too, and suddenly it’s no longer just a dry press of lips against each other. Arthur’s turned his head to the left slightly, so Merlin turns his the other way, and he leans in a bit closer, and his lips part slightly and…

They’re kissing. They’re actually kissing. Merlin’s brain is running a mile a minute but he tells it to shut up for once, to just let him enjoy what’s happening right now, unexpected as it is. He forgets all about his nerves, all about how he wouldn’t know what to do, because this seems so natural; so uncomplicated and pleasant and just plain  _nice_. Arthur’s hand has reached up to caress his cheek now, to hold his face as they kiss, and his skin feels good against Merlin’s. And it’s so weird, because he’s never really thought about Arthur in this way before, always just seen him as a friend, but now… but now…

They slowly draw apart. Around them are a circle of grinning faces.

“Arthur and Merlin, sitting in a tree-” Gwaine begins, and Morgana hits him in the face with a cushion. He retaliates, and soon the game is breaking up in disorder; an all-out cushion war emerging.

Somewhere in the midst of all that chaos, Arthur takes Merlin’s hand.

“Walk you home?” he murmurs, and Merlin nods.

They chat about innocuous things on the way home, though Arthur never lets go of Merlin’s hand, and the feel of it is solid and steady. It’s not until they get to Merlin’s house that he feels like he should say something about the party.

He opens his mouth to tell Arthur what a good time he had, how maybe they should do it again soon, just the two of them.

“That was my first kiss,” he blurts instead, and instantly wants the ground to swallow him up.

“Seriously?” Arthur says and Merlin nods and looks down at the ground, shame creeping up his chest.

“Your first kiss and you’re that good at it?”

Merlin’s head snaps up. Arthur seems to be totally sincere, no trace of mockery in his tone.

“You thought I was good?” he says hoarsely.

Arthur smiles.

“So good I want to be your second kiss. And your third. And your fourth, and fifth, and sixth…”

“Alright I get it!” Merlin says, laughing, and then he walks up into Arthur’s space, pressing himself against his chest.

Might as well get started on that second kiss now. No time like the present.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
